Copperfield's Announces the Bestselling Books of 2015

Submitted by Vicki DeArmon on Thu, 12/17/2015 - 4:19pm

There’s nothing better than a gripping story as Copperfield’s Books 10 bestselling book list of 2015 attests. The list tilts more toward fiction with 6 of the top 10, but that is less important than whether the story captivates. While four of the top sellers claimed their spots through their initial publication as hardcovers in 2015, four of the six remaining were bestselling books that experienced another boom once released in trade paper this year. The adult coloring book trend was captured in the top 10 this year, as was the impulse people had to re-evaluate their lives from a material and ethical standpoint.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up topped the bestsellers list at Copperfield’s for 2015. The translated book from Japanese author Marie Kondo reveals her system of decluttering and organizing that involves purging one’s house of things that no longer are useful or give joy. The $16.99 book has been on Copperfield’s bestseller list for weeks running, and according to Copperfield’s buyer Michele Bellah, this extreme form of paring down obviously speaks to the American consumer who has been overwhelmed by “stuff” while simultaneously searching for a less encumbered life and one infused with more meaning.

The second top selling book is the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel from Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See. Copperfield’s Books’ buyer Sheryl Cotleur reports, “Our readers have loved this beautifully written book about resilience in occupied World World II France. They loved it from the beginning, before it won the Pulitzer and even before it was nominated for a National Book Award.”

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins swept the collective imagination. The novel took third position on the list with a suspenseful story told by a largely inebriated narrator who viewed a possible murder from a passing train.

Also out in paperback, and helped by the release of the movie, The Martian by Andy Weir claimed the fourth position with a detailed assessment of what it might take to live on Mars from the first person viewpoint of an astronaut left behind as well as his audience on earth who roots for his survival.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel Brown, first published in 2013, continues to sell now in paperback and, as such, claimed the fifth place.

The phenomenon of Harper Lee’s undiscovered novel, Go Set A Watchman, set bestsellers lists afire over the summer and resulted in the novel claiming the sixth overall position for 2015.

Atul Gawande challenged traditionally held views about the role of medicine with his nonfiction work, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In the End. In writing the book, Gawande employed both his knowledge as a doctor and his personal life as a son who had to make difficult choices when his aging father became ill. It claimed the seventh position.

Two works of fiction brought up the eighth and ninth spots--both released in 2015 as tradepaper editions of the bestselling hardcovers--Euphoria by Lily King and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

And in the 10th position was Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Colouring Book by Johanna Basford, the author who started the trend in adult coloring books. Another of Basford’s books, Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt & Colouring Book, claimed the 12th spot. Both were published by Chronicle Books.

Other books in the top 20 included David McCullough’s biography The Wright Brothers (11); A Man Called Ove (13), a novel now in paper by Fredrick Backman, a book that was loved and handsold by Copperfield’s booksellers; Wild (14) now in paperback by Cheryl Strayed; Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (15) by Erik Larson; How To Love (16) by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh; Ruth Reichl’s novel Delicious (17) in paper (helped by Copperfield’s event with the author); H is for Hawk, a compelling first person story of training a goshawk and dealing with grief by Helen MacDonald, The Road to Character (19) by David Brooks, which plumbs the value of humility, integrity, and other moral attributes, and Gumption by Nick Offerman, a humorous but also engaging overview of Americans whose “gumption” inspire Offerman. Book sales were aided by a sell out Copperfield’s event with this author.